JetBrains Reveals How 'Dogfooding' Transforms Developer Tools — From Internal Pain to Premium Products
Breaking: Inside JetBrains’ Dogfooding Strategy
JetBrains, the company behind IntelliJ IDEA and Rider, relies on a simple but powerful practice: using its own products every day to build and improve them. This approach, known as dogfooding, ensures that every feature is tested by the very people who write the code. Learn more about the practice.
Background: What Is Dogfooding?
Dogfooding means a company uses its own products internally, experiencing the same challenges customers do. At JetBrains, engineers, designers, and product managers build their workflows around tools like IntelliJ IDEA and YouTrack. No one forces them; they use these tools because they genuinely help.
CEO Kirill Skyrgan explains: “You can only build truly great software if you use it yourself. Every feature and every decision comes from firsthand experience.” This direct connection keeps the team grounded in real-world problems rather than hypothetical scenarios.
Benefits: Immediate Feedback and Faster Fixes
Dogfooding creates an ultra-tight feedback loop. When a developer encounters a bug or an awkward shortcut, the fix often starts the same hour. This prevents issues from reaching users and turns every employee into a quality advocate.
Skyrgan adds: “Those thousands of tiny corrections made over time are what turn a good product into a great one. They come from people who care, not from KPIs.” The result is empathy-driven development — the team feels every friction point and works to remove it.
Example: Rider’s Rocky Start to Production-Ready
One standout case is Rider, JetBrains’ .NET IDE. In 2016, the software was unstable; editors crashed mid-typing. Instead of waiting for customer complaints, internal users fixed issues on the spot. This instant feedback turned a rough beta into a polished tool.
The persistence paid off. Today, Rider is widely used in the .NET community. JetBrains’ ability to test its own tools internaly accelerated development and set a standard for quality.
What This Means for Developers and the Industry
Dogfooding is more than an internal process — it signals a company’s commitment to quality. For developers, using tools that are battle-tested by their creators reduces unexpected bugs and improves workflow reliability. Other companies could adopt similar practices to shorten feedback loops and increase product empathy.
As software development becomes more complex, firsthand use of products may become a competitive differentiator. JetBrains proves that the best feedback often comes from within. Read more about the philosophy behind dogfooding.
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